Mayer Mizrachi: Panama's First Jewish Mayor

Mayer Mizrachi Matalon became Panama City's mayor in July 2024, making him the first Jewish person to hold that office and one of the highest-ranking Jewish elected officials in Latin America. A tech entrepreneur who built his political brand through viral social media after surviving a Colombian prison stint, Mizrachi has since built direct ties to Israel, meeting with President Isaac Herzog during his historic May 2026 visit to Panama.

Who is Mayer Mizrachi?

Mayer Mizrachi Matalon was born August 25, 1987, in Panama City, according to Wikipedia. He founded the secure email service Criptext around 2013, before launching Geeky Motors, a venture focused on importing Tesla vehicles into Panama, and later promoting Elapp, a cross-platform file-sharing application, per Wikipedia's biography of the mayor.

Mizrachi ran for mayor without backing from a political party, mainstream media, or a major donor, according to Expat Money's 2025 profile of his rise. He built his campaign entirely through viral social media content under the self-given nickname "Chacalde," a portmanteau of the Spanish words for jackal and mayor, a branding strategy Newsroom Panama described as central to his appeal among younger and working-class voters.

How did a Colombian prison stint shape his political career?

Mizrachi was arrested at Rafael Nunez International Airport in Cartagena, Colombia, in December 2015 on an Interpol Red Notice requested by Panama, accused of a crime against Panama's public administration connected to the government of former President Ricardo Martinelli, according to editored.org's account of Panamanian fiscal records. He spent just over six months in La Picota, a maximum-security Bogota prison whose population included active cartel members, before being released in June 2016 after posting a $100,000 bail, per the same source.

The embezzlement allegations centered on Criptext's licensing agreement with a Panamanian government innovation authority, a contract Mizrachi maintained had been fully honored even after a change in administration led officials to accuse him of non-delivery. Rather than treating the episode as a political liability, Mizrachi built his eventual mayoral campaign around the experience, framing it as evidence of dysfunction within Panama's political establishment.

Mizrachi is the son of Aaron "Roni" Mizrachi, brother-in-law of former Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, according to editored.org. That family connection made his 2015 arrest and subsequent 2024 mayoral victory a closely watched story within Panamanian politics, given Martinelli's own later legal troubles and asylum status at Nicaragua's embassy in Panama.

How did Mizrachi win the 2024 mayoral election?

Mizrachi won the May 5, 2024, election for mayor of Panama City with approximately 32.5% of the vote, roughly 156,000 ballots, running as an independent-minded candidate for the People's Party, according to Wikipedia's election results. He was sworn in alongside vice mayor Roberto Ruiz Diaz on July 2, 2024, at the Palacio Municipal Demetrio H. Brid, succeeding former mayor Jose Luis Fabrega.

His campaign relied on viral videos documenting infrastructure fixes, particularly damaged public roads in Panama City, distributed without traditional advertising or media buys, according to Newsroom Panama's coverage of the election. That grassroots, meme-driven approach helped Mizrachi outperform establishment-backed rivals in a field that included both centrist and conservative opponents.

What is Mizrachi's connection to Panama's Jewish community?

Mizrachi is Panama City's first Jewish mayor, according to Hadassah Magazine's 2025 profile of the city's Jewish community. He has described the responsibility of representing both Panama and its Jewish population as something he feels deeply in every action he takes in office, a sentiment he shared with a visiting delegation from the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland in 2026.

When Israeli President Isaac Herzog made his historic first visit to Panama by a sitting Israeli head of state in May 2026, Mizrachi met with him directly, a meeting documented alongside the broader visit in The Olam's Panama-Israel canal gateway report. Mizrachi's ties to Israel and to the United States have continued to develop since that visit, including a June 2026 appearance on PragerU, an American conservative media platform, where he discussed Panama's history and his own life story.

Mizrachi's Jewish identity places him within a broader pattern of Jewish political prominence in Panama that includes two former Jewish heads of state, a history documented in The Olam's survey of Jewish institutional life in Panama. Unlike Max Delvalle and Eric Arturo Delvalle, who held national office in the 1960s and 1980s, Mizrachi represents a newer generation of Jewish political leadership operating at the municipal level and built almost entirely on a digital-first public profile.

What has Mizrachi prioritized as mayor?

Mizrachi's early tenure focused heavily on visible infrastructure repair, using social media documentation of road and public works fixes as both a governing tool and a continuation of his campaign strategy, according to Newsroom Panama. That approach mirrors the direct, results-oriented style he has described publicly, telling PragerU that he measures his own success by tangible accomplishments rather than meetings or process.

Mizrachi has also signaled interest in deepening Panama's technology and security cooperation with Israel, an area of mutual interest documented separately in the Panama-Israel government-to-government framework covering water management, cybersecurity, and technology exchange. His background as a technology entrepreneur, having built both a secure messaging platform and an electric vehicle import business before entering politics, gives him direct personal experience with the kind of Israeli technology partnerships Panama's national government has pursued since 2020.